Kenyan priest killed in Cameroon separatist violence

Johannesburg - A Kenyan priest is the latest victim of Cameroon's ongoing separatist violence, which has claimed the lives of at least 400 people at a conservative estimate according to Amnesty International since violence broke out in 2016.

The priest was killed on Wednesday in Kembong in Francophone Cameroon's volatile English-speaking south-west region where violence has surged after separatists declared an independent state, the Daily Nation reported on Thursday.

According to reports the priest was killed while he was in church with no fighting reported.

English speakers claim they are marginalised by the Francophone government and have vowed to establish the state of Ambazonia.

Peaceful protests turned violent last year after a crackdown by Cameroonian security forces and a wave of arrests of political dissidents and critics.

Incumbent President Paul Biya, 86, who has served as president since 1985, won his seventh term in office during the October presidential elections but is struggling to resolve the separatists crisis with critics asserting he continues to refuse to talk to the separatists, claiming the country will never be divided.